Two Weeks Notice

Two Weeks Notice is a 2002 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Marc Lawrence and starring Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant, with Alicia Witt, Dana Ivey, Robert Klein, and Heather Burns.

In the film, an idealistic, liberal lawyer (Bullock) goes to work for a narcissistic, billionaire developer (Grant) and they form an unlikely pair.

The film was released in the United States on December 20, 2002, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $199 million worldwide.

Plot


Lucy Kelson is an intelligent, highly competent liberal lawyer who specializes in historic preservation, environmental law, and pro bono causes in New York City. George Wade is an arrogant, needy billionaire real estate developer and stylish womanizing playboy, who is also quite naïve. Lucy's hard work and devotion to others contrasts sharply with George's childish recklessness and greed.

Lucy meets George in an attempt to stop the destruction of the Coney Island community center from her childhood. Discovering she graduated from prestigious Harvard law school, he offers to hire her to replace his old Chief Counsel, overlooking their opposing views of real estate development. She decides the benefits he offers for discretionary funding for community causes she espouses outweighs the negatives, especially as he promises to protect the community center.

Lucy finds what he really requires is advice in all aspects of his life. She regretfully becomes his indispensable assistant and he calls her for every little thing at all hours. After Lucy is disrupted at a friend's wedding by George's latest "emergency" (what to wear to an event he is attending), she gives him two weeks' notice of resignation.

Lucy looks for work at other firms, but George has called in advance asking them not to hire her, so he can keep her on. Eventually, he admits defeat and she offers to help him find a replacement, but unaware of how close and interdependent they have become. They act like an old married couple at a restaurant, able to simultaneously carry out a conversation while involuntarily exchanging food out of habit from knowing each other's food preferences.

When potential interviewee June Carver shows up without an appointment seeking the position, Lucy speaks to her, but is concerned she lacks real estate experience. When George sees June, he is immediately attracted and is ready to hire her on the spot, seemingly disregarding Lucy's concerns. Lucy becomes increasingly concerned and competitive with her replacement. When George invites June to business events that Lucy would normally go on, she acts increasingly jealous.

Lucy learns that despite George's promise, the community center is going to be knocked down and so goes to confront him on his apparent betrayal. Arriving at his hotel, she finds George and June in his suite in lingerie during a game of "strip chess". George confronts her the next day (her last day) where Lucy reminds him he promised her to spare the community center and storms out.

After Lucy is gone, George realizes his time with her has demonstrated he needs to change. Meanwhile, in her new job, she realizes she misses him. George goes in search of Lucy and reveals he decided to keep his promise to her. She initially rebuffs him but then runs after him and they declare their feelings.

In the DVD version of the film, an unreleased wedding scene of George and Lucy was featured. George and Lucy were married at the community center attended by family and friends.

Cast
In addition, Jason Antoon portrays Norman and Sharon Wilkins plays Polly St. Clair, while Mike Piazza, Donald Trump, and Norah Jones make cameo appearances as themselves.

Production
Director Marc Lawrence suffered headaches, sinus infections, a root canal, and a slipped disc, while making the film. Lawrence previously wrote the films Forces of Nature and Miss Congeniality, which starred Bullock, and it was on the latter film where he asked her to look at his unfinished script. Bullock liked it enough to star in and produce the film. Grant was first choice for the part, he and Bullock had already wanted to work together. Lawrence hoped the film would be different enough for Grant, not the same as his Notting Hill character, but not as unpleasant as his Bridget Jones's Diary character. Filming took place in New York City, and was noted as the first Hollywood production to take place after the September 11 attacks.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack music to Two Weeks Notice was released on January 28, 2003.

Critical response
Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 and wrote: "… some of the dialogue has a real zing to it. There were wicked little one-liners that slipped in under the radar and nudged the audience in the ribs." Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly wrote that it "Knows what it needs to do for both its stars, does it, and doesn't make a federal case about it. I'd watch these two together again in a New York minute." David Rooney of Variety called it: "An affable but undernourished romantic comedy that fails to match the freshness of the actress-producer and writer's previous collaboration, "Miss Congeniality.""

Box office
Two Weeks Notice opened at number two domestically, behind The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and spent its first five weeks in the Top 10 at the box office. It grossed $93.3million in the United States and Canada, and $105.7million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $199million, against a budget of $60million.

Punctuation issue
In the best-selling book on punctuation Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, author Lynne Truss points out that the spelling of the film's title is grammatically incorrect because it is missing an apostrophe (Two Weeks' Notice). The book's original hardcover edition featured Truss in her author's photo, glaring at the poster and holding a marker where the apostrophe should be.